On returning to my car this evening I found that some busy individual had stuck a parking ticket on the windscreen. On closer inspection it appears that it was issued by a private company, rather than the council, with the vehicle apparently being parked on private land.

Is this actually legal and are they able to do anything if I dont pay up?

On returning to my car this evening I found that some busy individual had stuck a parking ticket on the windscreen. On closer inspection it appears that it was issued by a private company, rather than the council, with the vehicle apparently being parked on private land.

Is this actually legal and are they able to do anything if I dont pay up?

On returning to my car this evening I found that some busy individual had stuck a parking ticket on the windscreen. On closer inspection it appears that it was issued by a private company, rather than the council, with the vehicle apparently being parked on private land.

Is this actually legal and are they able to do anything if I dont pay up?

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IGnore it. Mentioned here recently, search the archives, also look at Pepipoo and other parking forums.
They can get the name and address of the registered keeper from the DVLA, but they have to recover their costs from the driver and the keeper is under no obligation to tell them who the driver was.

PRIVATE PARKING TICKETS - DON'T PAY!
IT IS NOT A FINE! YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING ILLEGAL!

This is an information page for the thousands of people who receive "tickets" from private companies in the UK ever day at supermarkets, retail parks, and in any other privately-owned carpark.

We are NOT encouraging anybody to openly flout parking restrictions on private land, or to refuse to pay reasonable charges for parking. Landowners have a right to make reasonable charges for the use of their land.

It is important to remember that private parking companies (or PPCs as they are often called) have NO OFFICIAL POWERS - that's right, none at all! They give out their "tickets" on the basis that you have seen the signs in their car park and that you have therefore agreed to a contract obliging you to pay a certain sum of money.

2. What happens to people who don't pay?

In 99.9% of cases, absolutely NOTHING! The company pays the DVLA £2.50 to get your address, and then sends lots of threatening letters. In the main, these letters can be safely IGNORED. The only way the company can actually force you to pay is by taking you to the small claims court, which costs them even more money. And they are by no means guaranteed to win! And they practically never do.

The two main reasons for this (among others) are the following:

- Only the person DRIVING the car could ever have agreed to any such parking contract. The company can only get the Registered Keeper's address from the DVLA: you don't have to tell them who was driving.

-Many of these charges are so extortionately high that they constitute a penalty, which is unenforceable in a consumer contract.

3. Can they affect my credit rating?

NO! The only way your credit rating could be affected by ignoring private parking companies is if you were taken to court, lost, and then still refused to pay. But they will not take you to court.

IN SHORT

The vast majority of the time, you can safely IGNORE tickets from private parking companies, they are not official fines.

The vast majority of the time, you can safely IGNORE the threatening letters, including those from debt collection agencies.

You DO NOT have to pay a penny of your hard-earned money to these companies. Remember that the chances of being taken to court are very slim indeed.

DO NOT IGNORE COURT PAPERS!
If you receive real court papers from a private parking company (very rare) then you should go to FightBack Forums or Parking / Traffic Offences for help defending the claim. Do not be afraid to sign up and ask questions regarding any paperwork you are not sure about.

Dont believe the above? Watch a solicitor on Watchdog advising you what to do with the scam invoices.

Even if a gen parking ticket is issued by a local authority, it's always worth a punt to contest it.

On returning ten min late to my veh in central London, where the wardens are the ultimate jobsworths, I found the obvious stuck to the windscreen.

Brief letter of apology to the local borough council, with a sob story of me being delayed due to helping a lost child find it's parents, blah blah, but understand the need to enforce limited parking facility etc, and an offer to pay the excess parking fee.

Week later, a waived parking fine and one stop short of a commendation for being such a model citizen !

Cheers easy ! Saved the letter on laptop as a template for every other time I'm late back to the car.

I got a ticket from aldi for being 11 minutes over my time. They sent me loads of letters saying they were going to take me to court and I owe now £150 due to costs and letters, the initial fine was £40. I put them in the bin - 4 months down the line I still havent heard nothing nor I will...... They wont take you to court as it costs them more than what they are disputing.

I got a ticket from aldi for being 11 minutes over my time. They sent me loads of letters saying they were going to take me to court and I owe now £150 due to costs and letters, the initial fine was £40. I put them in the bin - 4 months down the line I still havent heard nothing nor I will...... They wont take you to court as it costs them more than what they are disputing.

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£110 for a few letters, cheeky bastards. Two can play at that game, write loads of letters back and place an over inflated price on the value of each finally hitting them with a big fine.

Fortunately being disabled I'll no longer get tickets and can even park on double yellows for 3 hours.

This didn't stop some twat sticking a ticket on the car. I'd gone into town with my wife, she returned to the car alone at some point to put some shopping in. When we returned later there was a ticket, I went round to the office to question it and the reason for issue was because of incorrect use of blue badge. The twat issuing the ticket had obviously seen her go back to the car, but never bothered questioning the blue badge use.

Fortunately being disabled I'll no longer get tickets and can even park on double yellows for 3 hours.

This didn't stop some twat sticking a ticket on the car. I'd gone into town with my wife, she returned to the car alone at some point to put some shopping in. When we returned later there was a ticket, I went round to the office to question it and the reason for issue was because of incorrect use of blue badge. The twat issuing the ticket had obviously seen her go back to the car, but never bothered questioning the blue badge use.

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With the level of professionalism from the traffic wardens I give it a few weeks before one of them accuses you of faking it.